File this one below H for He Who Lives In a Glass Home. Only a few weeks in the past Tesla CEO Elon Musk was busy hurling taunts at US President Donald Trump on social media over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal as a substitute of doing one thing — something — to cease his firm’s EV gross sales from tanking. Now it’s Musk who has some ‘splaining to do, as The New York Instances has gotten its arms on a cache of buddy-buddy photographs on show at Epstein’s lavish Manhattan townhouse, together with one that includes Musk himself.
Tesla Wants A New Scandal Like A Gap In The Head
To be clear, Musk is only one of quite a few celebs and different noteworthy individuals who’ve appeared with Epstein in pictures over time, and one snapshot doesn’t make a relationship. Nonetheless, with its EV gross sales falling off a cliff within the US, Europe, and elsewhere, the very last thing Tesla wants is one other reminder of the steaming sizzling Epstein scandal. The New York Instances broke the information concerning the Epstein picture assortment earlier this week, with CNN and MSNBC among the many information organizations producing video followups that name-check Musk.
Including to the harm, Musk himself has been identified to make use of the slangy “pedo man” insult now and again, and now he surfaces in {a photograph} with a deceased however nonetheless infamous abuser of under-aged ladies.
One other Musk-related intercourse scandal of kinds additionally arose earlier this week, when tech reporters found that the “spicy” possibility on Musk’s new xAI Grok Think about function will fortunately create deepfake movies of feminine celebrities on command (dangerous!), and take off their garments with no command (additionally dangerous!). That’s on high of final month’s information, wherein Musk introduced that new anime-style AI “companions” can be found to premium Grok subscribers. The lineup encompasses a waiflike feminine character who speaks within the hushed tones of an excited nine-year-old whereas rocking a black boudoir goth getup.
Biting The Hand That Feeds You
Tesla’s current misfortune within the gross sales division is a comparatively new growth that tracks intently with Musk transformation from a supporter of presidency handouts to a terrorist-level wrecker of public sources.
His firm’s rise to the #1 slot in world EV gross sales is nicely documented, however the history-making trajectory nearly didn’t occur. Tesla Motors was a newly launched California carmaker churning out a small quantity of expensive two-seaters for luxurious sports activities automotive fanatics when the 2008 monetary crash hit the worldwide auto trade like a ton of bricks. US taxpayers sprang to the rescue, handing Musk a lifeline within the type of a $465 million mortgage assure, issued by the US Division of Vitality in 2009.
The phrases of the mortgage assure stipulated two issues: Make EVs extra inexpensive, and improve manufacturing. It didn’t say something about stabbing US taxpayers within the again, however that’s what occurred earlier this yr when Trump designated Musk to put waste to the federal authorities, together with bodily buildings and different sources in addition to personnel. Based on minority experiences and memos produced by the Everlasting Subcommittee on Investigations of the US Senate, Musk’s “DOGE” workplace has already value taxpayers $21.7 billion, and counting.
How Not To Cease The Bleeding
Flipping off US automotive patrons shouldn’t be regular habits for the CEO of a number one US auto producer, however why cease on the US? Over and above rising competitors from different EV makers, Musk’s affiliation with Trump and his posture as a far proper international affairs influencer can be credited with pushing Tesla gross sales down the drain in Europe, bigly.
Maybe the loud thump of falling numbers obtained by way of to Musk. Earlier this summer season he indicated that he wish to separate himself and his automobiles from the Trump model. He even went as far as to drift the concept of launching new political get together to problem each Republican and Democratic energy brokers below the title “America Celebration.”
These on the lookout for a hidden that means behind the title “America” is not going to be dissatisfied. Phrase video games are a longrunning theme in Muskworld, from the EV fashions that spell out “S3XY” to the obsession with the letter X and the quantity mixture 420.
Writing for the Washington Month-to-month on August 7, constitutional scholar and regulation professor Paul Finkelman takes word of the plain: The America Celebration title is the most recent iteration of a protracted, constant thread of equally named third events and different political organizations within the US, all fashioned with comparable intent.
“If Musk succeeds at making a political group on a bigger scale, he would be the sixth ‘American’ get together with some nationwide visibility,” Finkelman notes, tracing the looks of the primary “American Celebration” all the best way again to 1842. A second part of the American Celebration appeared within the 1850s with to higher impact, although it was additionally short-lived. The American Protecting Affiliation adopted within the Eighteen Eighties and the America First Committee got here alongside in 1940, solely to get replaced by the America First Celebration in 1943.
The latest occasion bubbled up in 1968, when the unashamedly racist Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, made a run for the White Home below the banner of the American Impartial Celebration. Amongst different declarations, Wallace is understood for declaring “segregation now…segregation tomorrow…segregation perpetually” at his inauguration in 1963.
Wallace and AIP weren’t outliers among the many 5 America-themed events listed by Finkelman. “All of them have three issues in widespread. They have been all anti-immigrant and/or anti-Black events rooted in non secular bigotry and racism. They have been all short-lived. They usually all did not have a lot influence on any elections,” he concludes.
Cybertrucks Used For Goal Follow
A lot for that. Musk’s America Celebration stirred up little information after he first talked about it, and that’s simply as nicely. With the model fame of Tesla quickly approaching Humpty Dumpty standing, none apart from the US Air Pressure additionally chipped in its two cents this week. On August 7, Stars and Stripes reported that the Air Pressure is planning to purchase two Cybertrucks to make use of for goal observe.
“Federal contracting paperwork posted on-line present the vehicles as half of a bigger purchase of 33 automobiles that will probably be despatched to White Sands Missile Vary in New Mexico to help U.S. Particular Operations Command,” Stars and Stripes reporter Lara Kote noticed.
Earlier than you level and chuckle, Cybertrucks are simply two of 33 automobiles slated for destruction by precision guided missiles for goal observe at White Sands. The thought is to replicate actual world circumstances, that means any automobiles that dangerous actors may simply get their arms on.
Oh, by no means thoughts. You may as nicely level and chuckle. Everyone else is. Inside hours of Kote’s report, “Cybertruck goal observe” was everywhere in the Intertubes. Simply what Tesla wants…
Photograph: Tesla Cybertruck through CleanTechnica archive (credit score: Carolyn Fortuna).
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